Apparatus for charging furnaces.



PATENTED MAY 9, 1905.

R. BAGGALBY. A

APPARATUS FOR CHARGING FURNAGES."

APPLICATION FILED APB.15, 1804.

WITH ESSES Patented May 9, 1905.

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RALPH BAGGALEY, PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR CHARGING FURNACES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 789,135, dated May 9, 1905.

Application filed April l5, 1904:. Serial No. 203,252.

To @ZZ whom, if nuty concern:

Be it known that I, RALPH BAGGALEY, of Pittsburg,in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented an Apparatus for Charging Furnaces, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a plan view partly in section. Fig. 3 is a detail view showing a modification.

In order to secure the best results in the operation of copper-smelting furnaces, it is necessary that the charge should be supplied to the furnace slowly and that it should be evenly mixed. It is also of the utmost importance that the furnaceman should be able to distribute such charge to all parts of the furnace, to several parts of it, or that he may concentrate the same for any length of time at one portion of the furnace. As a measure of economy and to save time and to increase the smelting capacity of the furnace it is desirable that he should be able to do these things without manual labor and as slowly or as rapidly as he may deem best. It is also important that any mechanism used for this purpose should be such that it cannot be injured by the top heats or by the gases from the furnace. It is also important that the mechanism be such that it shall not be necessary to keep it in continuous operation in order to protect it from the heat and gases of the furnace so long as the furnace smelts, whether ores, fluxes, or fuel are being fed or not, as is the case when any form of belt conveyer is used for this purpose. Even when metal conveyers or chains are thus used it is necessary to locate one or more lubricated bearings within the heat and gas Zone of the furnace-top; but this is objcctionable and will necessarily cause trouble, expense, and waste.

Too rapid charging is apt to chill the furnace and cause it to Work irregularly, and if large charges are added at a time the severe shock of the falling material is apt to cause injury to the furnace structure and to pack the charge in the furnace. The charging of the furnace by hand has been laborious and expensive, and as it depends upon the intelligence of the workmen it is often imperfect.

My invention overcomes all of the aboverecited defects, and it provides a chargingmachine which is simple in its construction, is not apt to be injured by the heat of the furnace, and will operate reliably and with certainty, so that an efficient distribution of the charge without labor is secured when it is used with furnaces or converters which smelt or melt rapidly and which require a large supply of ore, flux, or fuel. The speed at which the materials are fed into the furnace may also be regulated at will by the operator.

In Figs. 1 and 2 I show the apparatus arranged in connection with bins SZ 2, having gates 2', from which the components of the charge are delivered upon a conveyer 3, com posed, preferably, of an endless belt. The bins contain the several components of the furnace charge. One bin may contain ore, another silica, and another coke, and another' lime, and in front of each is a weighing-hopper 5,

which is supported upon the beams 6 of weighing-scales, so that a measured quantity of material may be received into the hopper and thence carried by the conveyer 3 to an elevator-boot, the hopper 5 being for this purpose.

1n practice the person in change of the furnace, knowing the proportions of ore, flux, and coke which are desired, sets the scale of each hopper so that it will balance at the proper weight for the particular material contained in the bin, and the workmanhaving delivered such weight into the hopper opens the gate 7 and causes the material to discharge upon the conveyer. The conveyers 3 3 discharge into a hopper 8, the orifice of which is preferably provided with a feeding and mixing device 9. which may be a corrugated roller, a feeding-disk, or other suitable appliance, which being driven at the desired speed delivers the material into the boot 10 of an elevator 11, whose delivery end 12 discharges into an oscillating feeder' consisting of a downwardly-extending spout or tube 13, pivoted at 14 and adapted to be oscillated back and forth by suitable mechanism, which may be a crank-disk15 and link 16. the crankdisk being driven by gearing 17 or otherwise, as desired. rIhe lower end of the tube 13 oscillates in contact with a curved plate 18, at which terminates a series of open spouts or tubes 19, leading to different parts of the apron or chute 2O of the smelting furnace or converter 21, which is to be charged and which preferably is fitted with a series of doors 22, as described in my Patent N o. 7 46,258. Each tube or spout has flush with the surface of the plate 18 a valve 23, which may be opened and closed by a hand-lever 24, preferably connected with levers located at the front of the furnace where the furnaceman may operate them, and thus regulate and control the delivery of the charge into the furnace at will.

If desired, the valve for releasing the charge material may be in the lower end of the 0scillating tube or spout, and in such case it may be raised or lowered to discharge the material or to check its flow by suitable tripping devices actuated at the will of the furnaceman by levers from the front portion` of Ythe furnace.

The operation is as follows: The material o be fed to the furnace is delivered in determined amounts upon the conveyer 3 from weighing-hoppers and is discharged into the feed-hopper 8, whence the feed-roller 9 delivers it at the desired rate of speed into the boot of the elevator 11. It is thence raised by the elevator and delivered into the tube 13, which oscillating back and forth along the curved tube-plate 18 delivers the materal into such of the tubes 19 as have their valves open, and the material passes therethrough onto the apron 20. If the valves of all the tubes 19 are kept open by the operator, the charge will be delivered regularly and evenly and continuously along the entire length of the apron and thence by gravity into the furnace, or if it be desired to charge more material to one part of the furnace than to another this can be done by closing some of the valves and opening others. In this way great facility is afforded of securing regular distribution of the charg'e or of varying it as the working of the furnace may require, and as the operation is automatic the with little cost. An advantage is derived from the fact that all the moving parts`of my device are at a distance from the furnace and that the only portions of the apparatus eX- posed to the flames or gases are the pipes 19, which are metal tubes and cannot be materially affected thereby. Moreover, because of the presence of the distributer 18 19 the oscillating feeder will have only a short oscillation.

In Fig. 3 I show a modification of the apparatus in which instead of aseries of distributing-tubes I use as a distributer a single open chute or trough 19, leading to the apron, and

work is done reliably andv on which are located partitions or vanes which divide it into separate valve-controlled open passages 19. Where coke or ores containing much moisture or ores that are talcky orthat contain much alumina are nace, they are liable to stick to and to clog the interior walls of the apparatus, and where such ores arel being smelted I much prefer to use open chutes and the apron that has open partitions, as shown in Fig. 3, inasmuch as such obstructions can in this apparatus be removed by hand.

Other changes in the construction of the parts by which the distributer may be made, since What I claim is- 1. Furnace-charging apparatus comprising a distribu ter having passages leading to different portions of a furnace-opening, and a traveling feeder adapted to move along the said passages; substantially as described.

2. Furnace-charging apparatus comprising a distributerhaving passages leading to different portions of a furnace-opening, and an oscillating feeder adapted to move along the passages; substantially as described.

3. Furnace-charging apparatus comprising a distribu ter having' valve-controlled passages leading to different portions of a furnace-opening, and a traveling feeder adapted-to move along the said passages; substantially as described.

4. Furnace-charging apparatus comprising a distrihuterhaving passages leading to different portions of a furnace-opening, and a traveling feeder adapted to move along the said passages, and a conveyer discharging into the feeder; substantially as described.

material is delivered to the fed into the fur- 5. Furnace-charging apparatus comprising a distributer having passages leading to different portions of a furnace-opening, and atraveling feeder adapted to move along the said passages, and means for moving the feeder continuously; substantially as described.

6. Furnace charging apparatus having valve-controlled passages leading to different portions of a furnace-opening, and means for supplying charge material thereto; substantially as described.

Furnace-charging apparatus comprising in combination with a blast-furnace means for distributing the charge by gravity within the Zone subject to heat and furnace-gases, and having the moving mechanism remote from such Zone, and means at the front of thefurnace for regulating the speed of delivery and location of the charge; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my J. H. REED, THOMAS W. BAKEWELL. 

